Morbid Curiosity
by emrys-knight
Summary: There's a light snow outside and the cold weather already weakens Peter even when he's not shirtless on a cold, damp, concrete floor in an unfinished house that has no heating in it, yet. And with everything Peter had been through, with how many times he'd been kidnapped, tortured, beaten, drugged, poisoned and the lot, he'd never had an experience like this one.
1. Chapter 1

The shackles were cold against Peter's skin. While his mind was on the frigid feeling of the cuffs, it started to wander to how cold he truly felt. The concrete was slightly damp from an obviously busted pipe in the ceiling, leaking rusty, moldy water onto the floor of the unfinished basement. He knew he was weaker because of the lower temperatures in the room. It's November in New York, what can you do? There's a light snow outside and the cold weather already weakens Peter even when he's not shirtless on a cold, damp, concrete floor in an unfinished house that has no heating in it, yet. And with everything Peter had been through, with how many times he'd been kidnapped, tortured, beaten, drugged, poisoned and the lot, he'd never had an experience like this one. The odd "good cop, bad cop, _even_ _worse_ cop" thing was a particularly weird aspect of the whole ordeal. The past four days have been Hell but he never lost hope of one thing: The Avengers would find him.

"You need to eat something, baby," Estelle kept a lighter tone for Peter's sake, but it remained firm, establishing her point. For the past four days, she'd been giving him the same exact thing. Two chicken strips and one potato, cut up and roasted. Was this the only thing she knew how to make or was it some kind of tactic that one of the others insisted on? He knew it wouldn't be enough food, anyway, given his increased metabolism. He kept refusing the plate, regardless of the attempts made by his captor. His kindest and most empathetic captor, sure, but captor nonetheless. He'd eaten on the second day, because he couldn't take the hunger, but it barely tamed the beast his stomach was becoming. The noises it made were audible to the entire room.

"I'm not your baby. I don't want food. I just want to go _home_ ," Peter wanted to keep a defiant facade, but he was just too scared.

"You need to keep your strength up," Estelle insisted, pushing her long, dark, shiny hair out of her way, exposing her pale skin to Peter. To him, she looked like a ghost. One that was keeping him from his unconventional family: the Avengers, May and Ned. He would have given anything to go to school. To challenge his brain in a way that didn't end with him losing his life or getting injured if he failed, hell, to even experience the torment that Flash put him through. His thoughts were interrupted with a rough, intimidating woman's voice.

"If he doesn't want to eat, then he won't eat. Let him starve," The other woman's voice was stern and irritated. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, the brighter red strands in contrast with the darkness and gloomy feeling the room brought. She stared Peter down with a terrifying gaze. He leaned back a little, his chains making noise with every minute movement. "You've seen how he's been."

"Why are you doing this? Why can't you just let me go?" Peter's voice shook as he spoke. His body trembled partially from his suit's failed attempt to keep him warm and his fear, as he was on the verge of tears. "My family… the _Avengers_ … are looking for me, right now. So, why don't you let me go? They won't find you. I won't tell them who you are, I promise."

"Because you belong to us, now, honey. Just ignore her. You know how Gena is. Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy!" The cheery tone was like fingernails to a chalkboard for Peter, and it was evident they were going to ignore the whole "the Avengers are looking for me" thing.

An old German man groaned, walking into the basement, down the creaking stairs. For some reason, he never spoke, but he didn't need to. His presence said, "Fear me." and his face said, "I'll kill you if you look at me just right." Every time he was in the room, Peter felt more scared than when he was just with Estelle or Gena.

"Please just let me go. I'm nothing to you. I'm useless," Peter leaned forward, almost standing up.

"Getting brave are we?" Gena noted his sudden sliver of courage, while begging. She tightened his chains and cut the top of the suit, exposing his arms and torso to the cold room. He shivered and whimpered as he felt the weakness in his body growing. "Let's go. Let him get some sleep before tomorrow. He's gonna need all the rest he can get," Gena gave Peter back the slack in his restraints and walked away with the old man, smiling. Peter watched the two leave, and shivered while he curled his limbs as close to his chest as he could, as his wrists were chained to opposite walls. He was happy to see them go, but didn't enjoy the idea of being alone with Estelle. But if he had to pick any of the three to be alone with, it was the kinder one.

"What does that mean? Why can't you just let me go?" Peter held his wrists up where the reinforced chains were. "You can take these off and I can leave. I won't tell anyone what happened, but I need you to let me go. _Please_."

"Come on, Estelle!" Gena peered her head into the room.

"I can't let you go, honey. Just get some rest before tomorrow." She set the plate of food on the floor next to Peter and left.

He sat for a few minutes, thinking about what "tomorrow" was. What were they gonna do? Why was it so important to Gena? If the past few days have indicated anything, it's that she doesn't care about _anything_. Whatever it was, he didn't want to stick around to find out because it was most-likely gonna end really bad for him. With every terrifying thought, his breathing elevated, which caused him to truly experience the smell of the mold, dust and rust around the room, his heightened senses taking it all in. He desperately yanked at the chains, pulling as hard as he could, even going as far as to tear the skin a little. A small amount of blood flowed down his wrists in tiny rivulets, dropping to the floor and dyeing the bare concrete red. As he pulled harder on the chains, making his wounds worse and the blood flow faster, he kicked at the chain links connecting his cuffs to the wall, hearing them creak and feeling them crush under his foot. He started to make progress before the door swung open and Gena came barreling in with a large needle in her hand.

Peter quickly tried crawling into the corner of the room to get away, but when he did, he felt his arm jerk back, nearly coming out of its socket. He knew good and well that he would dislocate his shoulder if he struggled too hard against the restraints, but he wanted nothing more than to get as far from this threat as he could. He kicked towards her, missing entirely, in his blind fit of fear.

"They'll find me!" Peter's voice was strained and it was heard throughout the house. "The Avengers will find me!" She jammed the needle deep into his arm, injecting every bit of the medication into him as he fought against her, the chains only making it more difficult. When she took the needle out, she quickly stumbled back, getting as far out of his reach as she could, as he started reaching out towards her, trying to fight, but he slowly felt himself slipping into the darkness.

"They'll find me." His words were barely audible and like an old film being burned, the blackness surrounded his vision, swallowing up the light, his sight fading into darkness.

"Okay, I get that Peter needs some me-time, but this is getting ridiculous. It's almost been a week! 5 days!" Tony turned to Bucky who shrugged and continued to shove a burger into his mouth.

"Just call her. She'd probably be happy for him to come up here and spend a little-dammit, Buck, you're _inhaling_ the food-a little time to herself. Some May-time, if you will." Steve looked over to Tony, who was standing on the opposite side of the bar from the two super soldiers.

"Yeah, he's probably just screwing around with the dude he hangs out with who likes to touch my metal arm. Good kid, but I don't really like him as much as Peter. Can't spar very well. Or he's with the beautiful Auntie Underoos." Bucky's voice was muffled by the burger but still relatively easy to make out.

"Okay I'm going to try and look past the fact you tried to spar with Ned, an _untrained_ combatant, if you can even call him that, and the fact that you just gave a really weird nickname to Peter's aunt..." Steve eyed Bucky down, then turned back to Tony. "But he's right. He's probably spending time with Ned or May. If he's with Ned, then you know the both of them would love to come up here. Just call."

"Damn right I'm gonna call. The kid needs to train. It's been way too long. Friday, call May." Tony set his hands on the marble surface of the kitchen counter tops and waited for "Auntie Underoos" to pick up.

"Tony! Your timing is fantastic! I was just about to call you." May was almost loud, over the compound's speakers, but everyone seemed to enjoy her voice so it wasn't a problem.

"Really? Why?" Tony's face creased in confusion.

"I was just going to see how Peter was doing. I mean, nearly a week at the Avengers compound? It's a long time, so I was just looking to see if he was having fun. That's why-" Her sentence was cut off by Tony's fantic voice.

"You haven't seen him, either?" Tony's heart rate started to elevate with every word May said.

" _You_ haven't seen him?" May's pacing was audible to the Avengers. "Friday, please add Ned to the call." Her voice shook.

"Right away, Ms. Parker." The AI took only a moment.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! Hey, Aunt May! Can I come see Peter? A week is a really long time and I really miss hi-" He was interrupted by both, practically, co-parents.

"You haven't seen him, either?!" The two, in unison.

"N-no? I thought he was with one of you…" Ned became just as worried as everyone else and it was now becoming clear that Peter was missing.

"Friday, get me a location on Peter's suit tracker, _now_!" Tony's voice was uncharacteristically harsh towards the AI. Luckily, she didn't have feelings. Steve and Bucky took that as their cue to suit up. Friday had already taken the liberty of sending Tony's armor through the compound to make contact with his body, gearing him up to look for his youngest Avenger.

"Wake up, honey," Estelle took the plate and set it closer to the door, out from Peter's reach, taking note of the fact that he'd eaten all of the food. He'd practically licked the plate. She could still hear his stomach growling. He'd been there for days and they'd been feeding him like a normal human instead of a superhuman with enhanced body function. Not on purpose, of course, Estelle wouldn't do that. But they really didn't know much about Peter-slash-Spider-Man other than the fact that he had super strength and he could heal very fast.

The darkness is suddenly gone as a flood of light comes rushing towards his eyes. The flashlight is removed and he can see the room is not as dark as it once was. He feels his chains getting tighter and his arms stretching out on either side of him, restricting his movement. With the tightening, he feels himself being lifted, bringing him to his knees, his chin resting on his chest. The cold cuffs cut through his raw wounds, reopening them. His whimpers were audible throughout the room.

"Today is the big day," Gena grabbed him by the chin, lifting his head to show his face. His eyes were barely open, yet scanning the room as best he could. Nothing seemed different, aside from the brighter lighting. "I've been waiting to do this ever since we got you. Five days too long, if you ask me. But day six? Day six is my favorite, so far."

"What...what does...th-mean?" Peter's words slurred as he tried to fully focus his eyes on at least one thing. Gena released her grip on his chin and it fell, nearly hitting his chest. His head felt like large weights, while he tried lifting it to get a better view of his surroundings. Maybe he shouldn't have, because what he saw sent a jolt of fear throughout his entire body sending his heart rate through the roof.

Before his mind could even attempt to process what was going on, he felt a burning, sharp pain in his forearm. He looked over to see Gena cutting through his skin, blood seeping through. He let out a strangled scream, trying to pull away, with no success. When she finished, she set the knife back on the large table with multiple utensils and sat in a folding chair straight in front of him, staring at his wound.

"What...what'r-what're you...doing?" Peter panted, slowly lifting his heavy head to see the woman's unfaltering gaze to his still-bleeding, but healing, cut. "Why?"

"Why what?" She knew exactly what he was asking, she just wanted to hear him say it and he knew that, but he hadn't the energy to truly think it through.

"Why? Why're you...doing this?" His words were slow but his mind was now racing with thoughts of escape and the torture he was about to face.

"I want to see how you heal. I want to see how your abilities work," She crossed her arms, watching while his wound slowly close and the bleeding slowed.

"Please… Please let me go," Peter's voice was weak and small, but his tone brought the slightest guilt to the stoic woman.

"You know I can't do that," Seeing his wound was fully healed, she grabbed a larger knife from the table and stood, walked over to Peter, and took his chin in her hand, once more. The two made eye contact, sending a shiver down his spine. "I want to know how you work. I want to know how your _body_ works. Because of that, I have no choice. Morbid curiosity, I guess. I've waited for the past five days while I watched Estelle baby you and try to get you to eat. Day two was fantastic, and all but she's just too empathetic for my taste. I guess I'm still getting what I want so..." She slowly pushed the large knife into his stomach, carefully avoiding any organs, but relishing in his screams and the feeling of the flesh and muscle being moved away from the weapon. Peter's screams could be heard from the empty street. That is, if there was anyone there to hear it. Maybe there was.

"I heard something," Bucky's warm voice and good news immediately attracted Tony's attention. Steve ran towards the super soldier, Tony following close behind.

"What was it?" Tony inched closer to Bucky, hoping to hear something good.

"I think it was a scream. But with all of these houses, I can't be sure which it came from." Bucky was sympathetic with Tony, and his mind was on Peter and what he could have been going through.

"We'll do a door to door. We're searching all of these houses on this street… hell, on the whole _block_! We're finding Peter!" Tony's voice was loud and threatening, but Bucky didn't mind, knowing he was only worried.

"Scream all you want, Spider-Man. No one lives on this street right now. Every house is still under construction and it's been delayed. No one will be able to hear you," Gena's voice was nearly a laugh, feeling like a jab in the heart to Peter. He was still breathing heavily from the knife in his side, as he could feel his body trying to heal around the weapon, making it even more painful. Tears flowed freely and whimpers were inevitable.

"Please, at least take it out," Peter's voice was shaking, every word was painful, causing his stomach to move, bringing the knife along with the movement.

"I guess I can do that," Gena walked back towards him, unsheathing the knife from his stomach. His gasp was loud but the feeling was welcome, given the alternative. She slowly and dramatically walked over towards the table and set the knife down. She turned towards him, eyeing his hand that was fisted in the shackles. His worry grew when he saw the gears turning in her head. Her pace was steady and her eyes were fixed on his fingers.

"What...what are you doing?" His voice started to slur while the cold, exhaustion and pain threatened to pull him out of consciousness.

"I haven't broken anything, yet. I was going to do your arm but I thought I'd just go for the finger so I wouldn't cause you too much pain." Gena grabbed him by the shackle, and uncurled his weak fingers, breaking his index with a loud, strangled scream. He struggled against his restraints, then he felt it. The muscles giving way as his bones shifted. He'd dislocated his shoulder. Another scream rang through the air, clearly audible outside. He couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't stay awake. His head hit his chest, eyes closed, and falling into the welcoming darkness.

"Do you hear that?" Bucky eyed a specific house, running towards the door. Tony and Steve quickly followed suit and Tony aimed his palm to the large door, blowing it back through the unfinished house.

"Peter! Peter, yell if you can hear me!" Tony's lungs were strained as he yelled as hard as he could. His desperation was growing stronger to find the spider.

"Dammit," Gena noted the Avengers' presences. Estelle and the old German man stood from their seats in the corner of the room, readying to fight. "Leave him here. He's dying, anyway. The second wound doesn't seem to be closing as fast as I thought it would."

"You went too deep. He's gonna die," Estelle rushed towards Peter, grabbing his pale cheeks, the loss of blood making him even paler.

"I said leave him. Let's get out before they get here," Gena grabbed her gun from her holster and the captors ran around to the opposite stairwell from the one where the Avengers were currently moving down.

"Peter!" Tony jumped past the rest of the steps to the floor, quickly getting to his cross-tied kid. "Answer me, Pete." While Steve and Bucky cleared the house, Tony told Friday to call for the med team.

'"Please." Peter's voice was breathy and weak. "Please...let me go" Every word felt like it was choking Tony. "They'll find me." Tears threatened to show themselves across Tony's face but he skillfully used his experience and held them back. The two ridiculously gorgeous super soldiers entered into the room once more.

"House is clear. We sent tac teams out to look for them. We're gonna give them this camera, here, on the wall," Steve picked it up before it was quickly yanked out of his hands and into Tony's grasp.

"Friday, download the video to the compound's servers. How long is that damn medical team gonna take?" Tony's voice was stern and full of worry and emotion.

Minutes felt like hours, but when the medical team arrived, all Hell broke loose. The basement room was flooded with personnel. Steve and Bucky had already left the room, giving the medics space to work on Peter, but Tony refused. He had to stay.

"Dislocated shoulder, broken left index finger, stab wound in the lower left stomach, nearly-healed abrasions on both wrists, and medium cut on the right forearm. Possible drugging." Every word threatened to send Tony into a panic attack..

"I'm right here, Pete. I'm not leaving you." Tony's emotions nearly swallowed him whole, while he watched Peter being cut from his chains. He could see where Peter had been fighting against them, when he noticed his wrists were mildly bleeding. He also noticed the bent chain links connected to the wall.

Peter's shoulder was popped back into place, and a sling was there in seconds. His finger was set, and they began to lift him onto the gurney, to roll him outside to the Aven-jet. Tony followed closely behind, walking in, almost stepping over one of the medic's heels. Two of the medics remained by Peter's gurney-side while the others went to the back of the jet, allowing Tony, Steve and Bucky to sit next to the young spider.

"We're right here, Peter. We're not leaving you."


	2. Chapter 2

"He had a dislocated shoulder. He was cut, stabbed, drugged, heavily malnourished, sleep deprived and has a broken finger. Normally I'm not, but, Tony… I'm worried about possible after-effects that are… the kind of thing you call Sam for." Bruce's news wasn't new but it hurt, all the rubbed his hand over his face.

He'd been sitting with Underoos while he slept for the past few nights because he was scared and Tony understood. Peter's nightmares made it difficult, though. The waking up, screaming at the top of his lungs in fear threatened to end Tony right then and there. The flinching and whimpering, and waking up, looking at his wrists for cuffs the second his lashes separate… Tony was angry. The rest of the Avengers were, too. Tony watched on as Peter slept, trying to keep from waking him up at every flinch. He needed his rest.

"Call Sam and Bucky. They need to talk to him. And call the rest of the team. He needs to know we all support him, no matter what." Tony put his hand on the kid's wrist, to stable it, as it trembled in his sleep.

Peter woke up to see the Avengers in his bedroom in the compound. The lights were dim for his sensitive eyes. He sat up in the bed, wounds fully healed. Well, the physical ones, anyway.

"Uh… hello?" Peter's voice was groggy and raspy but everyone found it cute.

"Hey, Pete." Sam leaned forward in his seat, next to Peter's bed. Tony had moved over to the large couch in the middle of the room that faced the bed. Nearly everyone was there: Sam, Tony, Steve, Bucky, Bruce, Nat, Clint, T'Challa, and Shuri. Nat and Clint were on the perches that Tony had had custom built for Peter. T'Challa sat, straight and regal looking. Peter liked him. He took care of Aunt May's finances. Shuri sat next to him with a smile on her face. She'd only ever heard about the smart boy who could climb walls. She was interested and excited, but T'Challa asked her to leave so he wouldn't be embarrassed.

Bucky stood next to the bed, back leaning against the wall. He would never admit it, but Bucky actually liked being near Peter for his own sake, not Peter's. He was the one who made him really feel like a hero after everything that had happened. He was the one out of the Avengers who was actually in awe of the soldier. Never afraid or unhappy with him. Bucky was interested in science and inventions. Things that Peter could talk to him about. Peter was the one who taught Bucky how to use the newest technology. He loved the kid.

Steve stood behind the couch, arms crossed, examining the room. He couldn't help but at least smile a little bit. Almost the entire family was in the room. They all had had issues with blood family but when it came to the Avengers, they had one that was strong. One that fought together, despite their Civil War the year before.

Tony stood right beside Peter's bed, attempting to stay out of Bruce's way while he did his examinations. Tony touched the kid's shoulder. Peter was starting to get scared. Not of anyone in the room, he loved everyone that was there, but he was scared they were about to ask him to do something he just wasn't ready to do.

"Sam and Bucky are here to talk to you, Peter. About what happened. Everyone is here to support you." Tony was startled when Peter began to sit up even further.

"No. No, I don't wanna. Not yet." Peter was starting to get anxious but remained seated on the bed for the sake of his family.

"Peter, we can't help you get past this if we don't know what we're working with." Sam leaned slightly further forward in his chair.

"Haven't you seen the footage? You already know." Peter's eyes were focused on the sheets on his bed, refusing to look at anyone.

"We didn't want to without your permission." Steve's voice was low and calming. Peter honestly, he felt like crumbling under the stress of the situation, aside from the fact that Steve's voice was comforting. He knew Tony and the others only meant to support him but he felt like they were pressuring him instead of supporting, even though he knew otherwise.

"No. Please don't." Peter stood on the cold floor, feeling the smooth hardwood under his feet. Sam also stood, walking towards Peter. He was about to say something before the spider flinched away. Sam backed away, hands up in a sign of surrender, hoping to calm him. "I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna talk about this. Please don't make me." His breathing picked up, worrying the Avengers.

"We're not gonna make you do anything you don't wanna do, but you should really talk about this." Bucky stood straight, separating from the wall to look at Peter straight on.

"I can't do this." Peter started to walk out of the room but before he could get all the way through the door, T'Challa stood from the couch and made his way to the spider, grabbed his arm, gently, pulling him back to hold both limbs.

"Peter, I didn't talk about things for a while after my father died and it only made things worse. We will respect your decision but you should at least consider it." His accent somehow released some of the anxiety Peter was feeling. T'Challa released his gentle grip, only to watch as Peter walked out of the door. The other Avengers couldn't help but follow.

"I just wanna be alone." Peter jumped onto the ceiling and crawled down the hall and turned. The Avengers followed closely behind, only catching up to see him crawl out of one of the windows in the main living room to climb to the roof. He spent the rest of the night up there, in solitude. The rest of the team respected his decision and kept their distances.

"I'm really glad we went out for lunch, Tony. I needed to get out of the compound for a little while." Peter had a slightly lighter step to him, now. The team had just gone out to the best burger joint in all of New York and Peter had the time of his life, laughing at how Shuri made fun of T'Challa, the freaking king of Wakanda. Peter was friends with a king!

That wasn't all, either. The shade Sam had for Bucky was grade A stuff. Steve and Tony spent the whole dinner watching the smile on Peter's face grow with every french fry and joke thrown around. Things felt like they were getting better. Or so they thought.

They walked into the compound, laughing and smiling until Peter saw Tony's new assistant.

"No. You!" Peter's sudden loud tone startled the Avengers, and they all stopped in their tracks to see who he was looking at. Gena. "You did this to me!" Peter started to lunge forward. Luckily, Nat saw the glint in his eye and tripped him. He had only managed to make slight contact and she went flying across the room and down a long hall, hitting the wall at the end.

"Peter!" Tony looked at the teen who was quickly getting up and bolting down the hall towards her.

"You psycho! You-" His words were cut off when he was quickly grabbed by T'Challa, who's necklace encased him in his suit. Peter fought as best he could but the suit kept absorbing the kinetic energy, doing nothing to loosen the king's tight grip. Tony quickly got to Peter, who was eyeing his new assistant down with a death glare, violently thrashing against the unwanted hold. Steve helped Gena up and asked if she was okay.

"Oh, I'm quite fine, sir." That bright red hair and the strong facial structure was what kept Peter from having a restful sleep.

"Let me go, T'Challa!" Peter's lungs were strained with his voice's volume.

"Calm down, Peter." T'Challa's voice was so calming, it almost angered Peter in his emotional state. He slowed his movements, knowing there was no fighting the king and was finally set on the floor.

"Would you like me to page a medic, Mr. Stark?" Another voice was heard. One Peter recognized, yet again. Estelle. She stood behind the receptionist desk, holding a phone up to her ear.

"That won't be necessary. I'm perfectly fine." Gena straightened her pencil skirt and blouse, standing straight.

"I'm so sorry. He's just been through a lot so he's a little agitated." Steve's tone made Peter angry, sending him over the edge when he saw the new cleaning guy. The old German man. Peter stumbled back at the sight of the three, fear overcoming every heightened sense. A scream ripped from his throat as he scrambled back as fast as he could. He quickly got behind a very surprised Steve, gripping onto the back of his shirt, nearly ripping it with his fear-fueled strength.

"Peter, what's with you?" Steve started to turn but Peter felt too exposed to the three ex-captors and he stumbled to get behind Bucky. The blue-eyed beauty brought his metal hand behind him, tapping on Peter's hand that had gotten a tight grip on his jacket. Peter took Bucky's metal hand, utilizing all of his strength, releasing as much fear as he could.

Bucky let out a small "Woah." at the strength Peter was using, hand trembling.

"My apologies if I startled you, Peter." Gena's tone was familiar. The same one she used when she had… It sent Peter over the edge. Before Bucky could do or say anything, Peter lunged towards Gena, once again, raising a fist to strike her. For fear of what would come of it, Bucky jumped forward, wrapping his hands around Peter, unrelenting as the spider struggled and cried out.

"They did this to me!" Peter struggled as hard as he could against Bucky's hold. He screamed as hard as he could, thrashing and kicking. "Put me down, Bucky!" The Avengers all looked around, thinking the same exact thing.

"You need to stop, Peter. You need to calm down." Sam tried to get Peter to slow his movements, to no avail.

"Let me go! Put me down! Get off of me!" Peter's screams brought tears to Estelle's eyes.

"Baby, you sh-" She stepped towards the teenager, scaring him even more.

"I told you I'm not your baby! Let me, go, Bucky!" Peter's screaming and thrashing didn't appear to be anywhere close to ending, and Sam made the decision.

"We have to do it." Sam hated the thought but he knew it was necessary. Bucky understood and quietly carried a screaming, fighting, Peter to a bed in the med bay. Bruce reluctantly but swiftly brought out the reinforced cuffs and wrapped them around Peter's wrists. The strain in his vocal cords, the tightness of the straps, the prick in his arm all felt distant but he was still very aware of them. He flinched at the prick, knowing Bruce decided it was best to sedate him for the time being. He fought the restraints and unconsciousness for as long as he could until finally fading into darkness, fearing the monsters pretending to be human.

"Bruce?" Peter awoke to a strange feeling around his wrists. One that wasn't foreign. The puppy eyes he gave his team broke their hearts.

"You-"

"Peter you weren't listening. We had no other choice." Tony couldn't look at the kid. He already knew the look he'd have on his face.

"Let me out. I won't do it again." Peter was released and he stood, walking out of the room, wrists tucked close to his heart, head low. Before he left, he looked back to T'Challa, with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, your highness."

"Quite alright." T'Challa gave a small smile, with a tilt of the head, making Peter feel a little bit better. The king knew how to do that, somehow.

"Peter, go with Cap to the other side and cut them off! We need to get these bad guys away from the fashion district! It's busy as hell this time of year!" Tony flew around, attempting to get a good spot to see the villains flying through the air, laughing maniacally. Luckily, the area had been evacuated for the public's safety.

"It's fine. I got it, myself." Spider-Man's voice came through the comms, irritated and closed off.

"Alright." Was all Tony could manage. He was trying to give Peter space after they'd decided to restrain him. He knew he'd had problems with it, before, having experienced it like he had. His thoughts were violently interrupted by a sound that Tony always dreaded hearing.

"Agh!" Peter fell out of the sky, onto the asphalt of the street below. He gripped his knee, rocking slightly.

"Peter!" Bucky was closest, running over and assessing the hero. "What happened, Underoos?"

"My knee! He shot my knee!" Peter let go of it long enough for the super soldier to see.

"He got right above your knee, luckily. I don't think even you could recover from a kneecapping." Bucky picked Peter up, hauling him over to Tony, who hovered slightly over the ground, ready to fly Peter to the med bay of the compound while the rest of the team dealt with the fight.

"Peter, what was that?" Sam sat with him on the smallest couch, everyone taking their own respective seats.

"I was just mad, okay? I wanted to fight on my own because you put those restraints on me." Peter's voice was irritated and as low as he could get it to go. It wasn't very low but it served a point.

"You were attacking Tony's new assistant and you wouldn't stop even after T'Challa grabbed you and even after I did." Bucky tilted his head, trying to get his eyes level with Peter's.

"She's the one who tortured me!" Peter shifted his position on the couch, moving his braced leg to be more comfortable.

"They had extensive and borderline violating background checks, Peter." Bucky came over and sat down next to Peter, letting him grab onto his metal arm, should he need to use some of his strength to calm himself, again. "But… Peter, what happened to you?"

Peter sighed, deciding it was time. "I said goodbye to May after I told her I was spending the rest of the summer here at the compound. I didn't call Happy to get me because I wanted a little time alone, just to think. Maybe do a little patrol on the way out of the city. I didn't think it would be a big deal. I was swinging through the buildings, almost out, when I saw an old man who looked in trouble. I stopped to help but the next thing I knew, I woke up in that room…" A tear nearly streamed down his face, but he pushed it away with the back of his hand.

"You were there for six days… What happened on the first?" Bucky kept his voice as gentle as he could, trying to keep Peter comfortable and talking.

"I just slept a lot and the one, the receptionist, Estelle, kept trying to feed me but I just couldn't eat. I didn't know what they did to it. If they did anything at all." Peter started to squeeze on Bucky's arm with a light pressure but it was still noticeable to the soldier.

"The second day?" Sam chimed in.

"The second day was...I ate because I was just too hungry. The third-" Peter was interrupted by Bucky, who was trying to keep his patience with the situation, but he was just so eager to hear what had happened. He wanted to help but he felt like he was solving a math problem without all of the information needed and it was driving him crazy.

"The second day was what? You started to say something before, then you skipped." Bucky could see the pain and trauma in Peter's eyes.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, Peter." Sam put his hand on Peter's shoulder, eliciting a flinch from the spider. "Woah. I'm sorry."

"No… I…" Peter let out a long sigh before lifting his shirt to reveal nearly-healed wounds.

"I was whipped, too." Bucky's statement surprised Peter and made Tony's stomach turn. His kid had been whipped. And apparently it was so bad, his enhanced healing still needed a long time to recover from it. He brought his shirt back down, increasing the pressure on the metal arm.

"Y-you were?" Peter didn't want to bring up Bucky's past traumas, but he also knew it could help him.

"Yeah. I was. They did a lot to see how durable my body was before sending me out to…" Bucky couldn't finish the sentence, a single tear rolling down his cheek when he looked at Tony. He quickly looked away, wiping the tear away when he noticed that Tony had seen.

"Tony's new assistant… Her name's Gena. She liked it. A lot. She laughed when I screamed." His voice was breathy, eyes unfocused and glassy. The pressure he had on Bucky's arm was tight, making the metal shift to protect the area where his hand was.

"What about day three?" Sam rubbed on Peter's back, calming him a little. Bucky looked around the room, seeing all of the heroes on the verge of tears for the kid.

"I dunno. I uh...I passed out. Estelle said it was from the pain and when I woke up after that, they told me it was day four."

"Day four?" Bucky tilted his head, slightly.

"Same as day one."

"Day five?"

"Same."

"What about six?" Bucky immediately regretted asking the question, seeing the trauma playing out in the spider's eyes. Peter didn't answer for a moment. "Peter?"

"What?!" His tone was loud and full of surprise like he'd just been pulled out of a trance. "Sorry. What was the question?" Everyone exchanged worried looks.

"What happened on day six?" Bucky heard the metal in his arm groaning at the pressure Peter now had on it. It started to give way before Bucky grabbed his hand with his flesh one. "Hey, it's okay. They can't hurt you anymore."

"They can. They're in the building. And I don't wanna talk about it." Peter crossed his arms, letting go of Bucky's metal one.

"That's alright. You already did really great." Sam hugged Peter from behind, the warmth of his body was welcome.

Peter walked through the compound with his knee brace on, hobbling all throughout the halls. He was looking for Bucky so he could finally show him Ferris Bueller's Day Off; something he wanted to do for so long.

He turned the corner to the main lobby where the front doors were when he spotted them. All three of his previous captors.

"Hello, Peter." Gena's voice was haunting. It was the same tone she used when she'd tortured him the previous week.

Peter did his best to ignore her taunts and kept limping before she pounced on him, tackling him to the ground. Before he could process any of what had just happened, Estelle and the old German man, Martin, were on top of him. Gena gripped his braced knee tightly and squeezed with every bit of strength she had, bringing a strangled scream out of the kid. His mouth was covered by Martin's large and strong hand. Peter pushed the attackers off, quickly limping to the large wall of windows, climbing up and out of reach, while they jumped up at him. He moved to the ceiling. "Friday! Sound the alarms!"

"Tony, you can't just watch the kid walk around the compound on the cameras. Just go talk to him." Bruce's tone was kind and knowing. Tony hated that in that moment.

"Look at him, Bruce. He's limping, right now, because we restrained him." Tony gestured to the computer screen, at a hobbling Peter

"No. I understand how you feel, but no. He's limping, right now, because he put his emotions ahead of the mission and he got hurt because he was being stubborn. Like a certain someone on the team..." Bruce pat Tony's back and began exiting the room. Tony turned to fire back.

"You're gonna have to be more specific, Brucie! This whole damn team is stubborn." Tony laughed, turning back to the screens. He was met with the horrifying sight of 3 people tackling his kid and torturing him. "Friday! Lock the compound down, now!" She did as was requested and the building locked down. The heroes were alerted to Peter's location and all ran as fast as they could to help out their kid.

Peter saw the metal plates quickly covering the outside windows, locking his attackers in. "You guys are screwed because they're gonna-May doesn't let me say that word-you up!"

"Your plan fucking sucks, Martin." Gena's tone wasn't pleasant to anyone but Peter.

"I did not see any cameras." Martin's German accent was thick and pronounced.

The heroes surrounded Gena, Estelle, and Martin, watching them slowly lower to their knees and place their hands on their heads, interlocking their fingers.

Peter came back down once he saw them all in cuffs. He walked over to Tony tail-between-the-legs, head down, before saying something Tony didn't know if he wanted to hear or not. "You can watch it."

"The-" Tony started.

"Yeah. The tapes from what happened. You can watch them. All of you."


	3. The Final Chapter

The Avengers all sat down in the living room while a tv screen slowly descended from the ceiling. Peter sat in the middle of the couch, curled up between Tony and Bucky. Steve and Sam sat on a smaller couch, while T'Challa and Shuri sat on another small couch. Natasha and Clint claimed the bean bags in the middle of the area. Bruce brought up a barstool from the kitchenette and sat behind the couch, keeping a close eye on Peter's vitals on his iPad. He knew he shouldn't have, but he wanted to be able to call it off if they got too bad.

"Peter, are you sure you want to do this?" Tony put his hand on the spider's shoulder, looking him in the eye. "We don't have to."

"No, I-I think it's time." Peter curled up a little closer to the two older Avengers. He didn't really want to see the video, but more than that, he didn't want to be alone. Tony hugged the kid a little tighter, sensing the discomfort. Bucky tapped his metal finger on the kid's thigh, gently, letting Peter grab onto the durable vibranium forearm. Peter silently nodded to Bucky with thanks.

"Friday...play file PC6."

"Right away, Mr. Stark." The AI's voice was sweet, calming Peter a little bit. He tried to keep a strong facade for the other Avengers but in the end, he realized that they were his family. They were going to protect him and he could be vulnerable with them. Even so, he was terrified. He hadn't seen any of the film, himself. He hadn't watched it, before, because he assumed, rightly, that they had been recording even as he slept.

Gena's face was close to the camera, as the screen shook while she adjusted it and got it into place. "Day one. He's been out for a few hours, now, but we just got him. He's been heavily sedated to the point of near-overdose. Estelle is going to feed him, then we'll observe his behavior for today. Tomorrow, I take his super healing out for a test drive." She left the frame, leaving only the sight of Peter in the basement. His mask had been taken off but his suit remained on.

The Avengers watched as Peter was woken up to see Estelle sitting next to him. She had a small plate of meat and potatoes. "Hi, honey. I made you some food."

"What the hell?!" Peter's voice was frantic. He shuffled backward, quickly, before the chains stopped him. When he noticed the cold shackles, he pulled at them, looking back and forth from the chains to Estelle.

"Calm down, baby. You need to calm down." Estelle set the plate down on the concrete, reaching a gentle hand out to the spider.

"I'm not your _baby_! Let me go!" Peter tugged even harder at the chains, doing nothing to compromise the material.

"I'm going to have to sedate you if you don't calm down, honey. I don't want to do that. So why don't you just sit still and eat, huh?" She pushed the plate towards Peter, who continued to struggle.

"No! I'm not taking food from you! I wanna go home!" Peter kicked and pulled and fought, squeezing his eyes shut with the strain on his body. His heart raced, further, when he felt a prick in his arm, making him feel drowsy.

"I'm sorry. Maybe you'll be more cooperative when you wake up." Estelle left the plate relatively close to Peter while he lost his battle with the sedatives, falling unconscious.

Peter's vitals were high but remained consistent, making Bruce concerned, but not alarmed. With everything that the Avengers were seeing, they all remained on the verge of tears. Tony looked over at Peter, who was already crying. "Hey, we can stop."

" _No_. No." Peter shook his head, giving a mild sigh. The screen had gone black, as to signal moving on to the next day. Everyone knew what was coming and they didn't like it one bit.

"Day two. My turn with the spider." Gena, once again, adjusted the camera so it was fixed on Peter. She quickly made her way to the wall with an ear-to-ear smile, tightening Peter's chains, lifting him into a kneeling position. His chin rested on his chest, and his arms were pulled to either side of him, tightly. "This should wake him up." She bent down, walking through the chains, then proceeded to lift her hand in the air with a large black whip. Gena used all of her strength, bringing the ends of the fabric down on Peter's back, waking him up with wide eyes as a scream tore through his throat.

"Please." Peter's voice was breathy and shaky, making Gena's smile, somehow, grow even larger. She raised her hand high and far back, bringing it down with a loud cracking sound. Peter's scream was loud and strained, hurting his vocal chords. He pulled at his shackles as hard as he could, doing nothing. His tears freely fell. "Please...p- _please_ stop."

"Keep begging. I _love_ when you beg." Gena's whip made contact with Peter's back multiple times, making him hold his breath until it was over. He panted, feeling the blood quickly run down his back in warm, wet rivers, making his suit stick to his skin. His tears fell to the ground in a near-constant stream.

"T-they'll find me." Peter's voice shook and was weak but he managed to push the sentence out.

"The Avengers? They're the ones who let you get caught in the first place! It's their fault you're here." She laughed as she brought her hand up, ready to strike again before being met with a feeling of complete surprise. Peter turned as far back as he could, which was not that far, and came at her as best he could. He barely moved an inch but it still had an impact.

"It's not their fault! It's yours, you psycho!" His anger-fueled scream hurt his sore throat but he didn't regret it one bit, even when he was forcefully turned and whipped multiple times in a row, Gena laughing while he screamed.

"You don't talk to me like that!" She brutally and quickly brought the whip back and forth. His eyes were heavily lidded as he was close to falling into the darkness. It was welcome.

When Gena finally stopped, she threw the whip to the other side of the room, smiling as she took in the sight of his shredded suit that was now a few shades darker red than it normally was. She noticed he'd passed out from the pain. She crouched under the chains once more, slowly loosening them so he'd gotten back the slack in them he'd had before. His cheek touched the concrete, as he laid on his stomach, showing the camera how bad it truly was. The pale surface of his skin was barely visible through all of the shredded fabric of the suit, the blood, and lacerations.

"Oh my-" Estelle's voice was heard before loud sounds of quickened footsteps. The next thing seen was Gena passing the screen while Estelle came into the frame with a wet rag and a large bottle of vodka.

"You're buying me a new bottle if you use it on him." Gena's voice was stern.

"Fine." Estelle emptied it onto Peter's back, waking him up for only a moment with a whimper before he passed back out. She took the wet rag and carefully cleaned his back, allowing the camera to fully focus on all of the wounds.

The camera sped up, showing Estelle coming in and setting a plate next to Peter, who had woken up, now. He was now alone, barely able to move at all without irritating his wounds that had barely even begun to heal. His stomach's growl was heard through the camera and he desperately grabbed at the food, shoving it into his mouth as fast as he could, coughing for a moment, and then continuing to eat. When he'd finished, a groan slipped out of his mouth. His stomach growled, even more, having not gotten enough food.

The dam broke. Everyone's tears flowed. Tony and Bucky slid a little closer to Peter on the couch, hugging him tighter while he cried.

"That's why he still hadn't healed much when we found him." Steve's words coming out under his breath.

"Yeah." Peter's voice shook. Steve's head snapped to look at the boy. He couldn't be angry for his use of his enhanced senses, even though they'd told him time after time not to do what he'd just done.

"Peter-" Tony was quickly interrupted by the teen.

"I don't wanna stop." Peter just wanted to get the whole thing over with. He just wanted to have everyone see the video now, and have it all be over instead of over a longer period of time.

Tony sighed, allowing Friday to play the rest of the video.

The film skipped through day three and four, as they were deemed unimportant by both Peter and the AI. Most of day five was also skipped, only resuming when he woke up.

"I brought some food." Estelle's cheery voice was visibly irritating to Peter. He said nothing, sitting with his knees to his chest and his chin resting between the two kneecaps. "You need to eat something, baby."

"I'm not your _baby_. I don't want food. I just want to go home."

"You need to keep your strength up."

Gena's voice was heard out of frame. "If he doesn't want to eat, then he won't eat. Let him starve. You've seen how he's been."

Peter was visibly trembling, the camera seeing everything. "Why are you doing this? Why can't you just let me go?" His voice shook as he spoke. "My family… the _Avengers_ … are looking for me, right now. So, why don't you let me go? They won't find you. I won't tell them who you are, I promise."

"Friday, pause." Tony looked at Peter who was curled up as far as he could possibly be. "You were lying, right? Would you have told us who they were?"

"I was lying." Peter's voice was wet with tears. He sniffled and regained a little bit of his composure. "I was just saying what I thought I had to."

"Just making sure." Tony hugged the kid a little tighter, seeing his white knuckles on Bucky's vibranium forearm.

"Because you belong to us, now, honey. Just ignore her. You know how Gena is. Grumpy grumpy grumpy!"

"Please just let me go. I'm nothing to you. I'm useless." Peter leaned towards the camera, looking to Gena, nearly standing.

"Getting brave are we?" Gena's irritated voice was heard and feared. She came into frame, tightening his chains a little and grabbing a knife out of her back pocket, cutting the suit to expose his skin to the cold air. There was admittedly some relief to the lacerations on his back, but it was clear he was getting weaker with the lack of food and now the even lower temperatures his body was exposed to. Gena put the knife back in her pocket and stood straight. "Let's go. Let him get some sleep before tomorrow. He's gonna need all the rest he can get." She proceeded to give Peter back the slack in his chains before walking away. Peter shivered and brought his legs back up to his chest, in an attempt to keep some of the warmth in his body.

"What does that mean? Why can't you just let me _go_?" Peter lifted his wrists, as to show Estelle the large, cold, shackles. "You can take these off and I can leave. I won't tell anyone what happened, but I need to you let me go. Please."

"I can't let you go, honey. Just get some rest before tomorrow." Estelle set a plate of food on the floor and left the screen, leaving only Peter in focus.

The gears turning in his head were very clear to the Avengers watching the film. They could see the fear growing and his breathing picking up the pace. They watched as he yanked at the chains, pulling as hard as he could, showing some blood around his wrists. He pulled harder and harder, making him bleed, even more, a sight the Avengers were not at all happy with. His kicking at the chains followed closely behind. Sadly, a loud noise was heard and Gena came back into frame with the large needle in hand.

Peter's crawling back, frantically, broke everyone's hearts as they watched him struggle and kick at his attacker and captor, completely missing. The needle was jammed into his flesh, and they watched as Gena stumbled back, towards the camera. She quickly moved out of sight while they watched Peter come forward. "They'll find me." It was barely audible to the camera but everyone heard it.

Friday began to skip to day six when Peter noticed everyone's emotions on their faces. He hated seeing them so sad because of what had happened to him, yet, he couldn't help but feel good, knowing they cared so much as to cry. He knew most of them had a pretty good handle on their emotions, and especially crying. To see them having lost that control must have meant they really did care so much about him.

The video continued a moment before Estelle spoke. "Wake up, honey." She was seen picking the plate up, setting it further out of the camera's field of vision.

Martin walks forward, flashlight in hand. He gently separates Peter's eyelids, flashing the light in the spider's face. Satisfied with his haphazard assessment, Martin stepped back, setting the flashlight on the large table. He quickly moved to the crank on the wall, turning it. The chains rattled while being pulled tight, bringing Peter to a kneeling position, arms out on either side of him. Martin must have pulled a little too tight because the abrasions on his wrists that had previously begun healing were re-opened. He whimpered, trembling a little at the pain.

Gena was then seen walking on screen. "Today is the big day." She grabbed him by the chin, lifting his head. His eyes were hooded and unfocused. "I've been waiting to do this ever since we got you. Five days too long, if you ask me. But day six? Day six is my favorite, so far."

Peter slurred his words. "What...what does...th-mean?" His eyes lazily blinked, trying to focus. Gena's hand ceased contact with his cold skin. Peter lifted his head, slowly. It was obvious when he'd caught sight of the torture tool table, his eyes widened.

Gena walked across the screen, knife in hand, and proceeded to cut across his forearm. His scream and worthless attempts at getting away were heartbreaking. Gena left the camera's sights and a shuffling noise was heard before silence.

"What...what'r-what're you...doing?" Peter's panting was audible to the camera. Silence falls on the room for a moment. "Why?"

"Why what?" Was heard from behind the camera.

"Why? Why're you...doing this?"

"I want to see how you heal. I want to see how your abilities work."

" _Please_ … _Please_ let me go." Peter's tone threatened to choke the Avengers.

"You know I can't do that." There was a shuffling sound that was quickly followed by the sound of metal against wood. She came into frame, knife behind her back. She lifted Peter's chin, once more. "I want to know how you work. I want to know how your body works. Because of that, I have no choice. Morbid curiosity, I guess. I've waited the past five days while I watched Estelle baby you and try to get you to eat. Day two was fantastic, and all but she's just too empathetic for my taste. I guess I'm still getting what I want, so…" The Avengers watched as the knife was slowly shoved into Peter's torso. His screams ripped their hearts in two, threatening to kill them all.

"Tony, you okay?" Peter noticed his father figure tensing up. Friday paused the video, hearing Peter's words.

"You're watching this...and wondering if _I'm_ the one who's okay?" Tony looked down at Peter, who'd snuggled up to the billionaire.

"I was just wondering."

"She's not taking it out." Tony's voice was breathy and angry.

"Just wait." Peter's voice was small and quiet. Friday rolled the video once more.

The wound was visibly throbbing, attempting to heal around the knife. His scream was loud and practically unending.

"Scream all you want, Spider-Man. No one lives on this street right now. Every house is still under construction and it's been delayed. No one will be able to hear you." Gena's tone made every single Avenger ball their fists in anger. His free-flowing tears and whimpers didn't help, either.

"Please, at _least_ take it out." Peter's shaking voice broke Tony's already fragile heart.

"I guess I can do that." Now within sight, Gena took the knife out of Peter's stomach with a gasp.

The next thing seen was Peter's terrified face. "What… what are you doing?" His voice was slurred.

"I haven't broken anything, yet. I was going to do your arm but I thought I'd just go for the finger so I wouldn't cause you too much pain." Gena grabbed his shackle, uncurling his weak fingers. She gripped his index, twisting it, quickly. He screamed and struggled before pausing. Silence fell into the room before it was broken with a blood-curdling scream. By then, everyone knew what he'd done. He'd dislocated his shoulder. The Avengers could see how hard he fought to stay awake. They were watching him lose that battle.

"Peter was rescued after this," Friday stated, ending the video. The TV screen slowly ascended into the ceiling. The Avengers all looked at each other, then Peter.

"I...I don't know what to say." Tony looked into Peter's tearful eyes.

"Honestly…" The Avengers listened closely to Peter. "Let's just not talk." He curled up against Tony's chest, falling asleep, feeling safe with his super-family.


End file.
